France threatens veto of EU-US trade deal

STRASBOURG, France (AP) ? A cloud is hanging over free trade discussions between the European Union and the United after France said it would veto any deal that includes the film, radio or TV industries.

The stakes are high because any deal could have major implications for global trade and could serve as a model for future deals. Together, the U.S. and the EU make up nearly half the world economy and 30 percent of global trade.

The audiovisual sectors have traditionally been excluded from global free-trade agreements under what is known as the "cultural exception," which allows governments to subsidize and protect them. In general, free-trade agreements are supposed to limit or ban such support.

"France is asking for an exclusion from the negotiation of what it considers of course to be cultural products but which are also a mark of European identity," French Trade Minister Nicole Bricq said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Bricq said the latest draft of the negotiating mandate, to be presented to EU ministers Friday, still has audiovisual services on the table ? and that's not acceptable to France. France and others don't have the power to block the negotiations from going forward at this point, but any treaty will eventually need the backing of all EU countries.

Bricq said the European Commission, the EU's executive body which is tasked with negotiating with the U.S., would be unwise to move ahead without the support of the bloc's second-largest economy.

European officials have, however, said the "cultural exception" would be preserved.

Concerns over the talks have prompted European actors, writers and directors to head to Strasbourg on Tuesday to appeal to the European Parliament to protect their work.

Berenice Bejo, the French actress who hit the global stage with the black-and-white film, The Artist, said the fear is there would only be big films if the exception is nixed.

"For example, The Artist was a film that nobody wanted because no one wanted to show a silent, black-and-white film in prime time," she said. "And in the end, we made it, it exists thanks to the cultural exception, thanks to all the subsidies we have in France."

Those subsidies are one of the reasons the cultural exception is most associated with France, where 770 million euros ($1 billion) were handed out last year to films. France also has strict quotas for how much content on television and radio must be French or European.

But the French are not alone. European culture ministers, including those from Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy, signed a letter last month calling for culture to maintain its special status.

"It's an entire policy of the EU and its member-states that will be compromised if the exclusion that we're asking for isn't insured," the letter said.

But even Bricq concedes that others may not be willing to go as far as the French.

The Irish government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, says the cultural exception is the last major sticking point before a mandate can be approved Fridaydd

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Associated Press writer Raf Casert contributed from Brussels.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-11-AP-EU-Europe-US-Free-Trade/id-bcd2e55c98314630bb2de8922d992745

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